NEW YORK/CANADA
Democrat and Chronicle
Written by
David Andreatta
Staff writer
An HIV-positive former youth pastor at New Hope Free Methodist Church in Rochester has been accused by Canadian authorities of luring what he believed was a teenage boy online for a sexual tryst.
Kris Allan Gowdy, 42, now a youth pastor with a church 40 miles east of Toronto, allegedly used the profile name “collegetoy2003” in various Internet chat rooms and befriended an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old boy, according to Durham Regional Police.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Nancy Van Rooy said investigators apprehended Gowdy at a pre-arranged meeting spot last Thursday and charged him with luring a child via computer and attempted aggravated sexual assault. Gowdy is in custody and will face a bail hearing later this week.
Van Rooy said investigators suspect there are underage victims. She said Gowdy lived in Rochester from 2003 to 2005, but that there was no evidence that he was visiting Internet chat rooms at that time.
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